Developers often place breakpoints into the source code of their compiled programs under development. These breakpoints can cause the compiled program under test to stop execution in order to perform some function such as allowing the developer to gather information about computer registers and the progress of different threads. Breakpoints can be used to discover why a section of code is failing or doesn't work correctly. Often, finding the code is a non-trivial task because two separate computers may be involved.
For example, if the program is being debugged on one machine, but the source code exists on another machine, a straightforward search for the source code on the local machine will not find the file of interest. Accordingly, she will have to identify the location of the code on a different machine, possibly transport it to the development system and then load the source code onto the development system in order to view the source code file of interest. This technique is labor and time intensive.
Thus there is a need for a method and system by which a developer may easily access source code of interest such that if the source code is located on a different machine, it may still be accessible. The invention addresses the aforementioned needs and solves them with various systems, methods and techniques that also offer other advantages for automating the acquisition of source code in a software debugging environment.